Is BSNL’s Monopoly Different Than Other Telecom Vendors?

In present scenario, all telecom vendors are quite aggressive to generate more revenue in India, and they are substantially working on their strategies. In this context, state-own BSNL is doing somewhat different for the welfare of folks inside the country. Recently, the ‘telecom vendor’ is teaming-up with “Dimension Data” to launch ‘Internet Data Center’ in six different locations of the country such as Mumbai, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Ludhianna and Ghaziabad.

The data center market is expected to grow with Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22% and might touch to Rs 6,500 crore by 2016. BSNL reported net profit of over Rs10,000 crore in 2005-06. Presently, the telecom vendor has over 50,000 towers and one of the largest land banks and networks assets in the country, that’s why, Indian communication and Information minister “Kapil Sibal” is seeking the company as one of the “Navratna”in India.

On the contrary, the earnings of the telecom vendor have continuously been declining since fiscal 2005-06. The company has reported Rs5,997 crore loss during fiscal 2010-11 and also suffered an extensive loss of Rs 1,823 crore in the previous fiscal.

Despite of this, BSNL has also taken another ambitious project of RS 20,000 crore to establish telecom links in all villages across the country. Aim of the project is to provide e-governance to all rural and far-flung areas by next two years.

The Rs20,000 crore project has been undertaken to create a National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) in India in order to provide internet and other telecommunication connectivity to rural masses. It is expected that the project might be complete in next two years.

Recently, Airtel has reported its Q4 fiscal 2012 report and generated Rs 18,729 crore revenue in the quarter. Currently, numbers of carriers are fighting with each other for 4G services across the country. In spite of these, BSNL is still emphasizing on the e-governance and empowerment of rural sectors. Undoubtedly, BSNL is different than other telecom vendors, it uses to give more priority to ruaral India.